Youth Climate Negotiators Launch Formal Coalition to Shape Liberia’s Global Green Future | News

In a strategic shift from traditional street-level protest to high-level diplomatic engagement, a coalition of young Liberian climate advocates has officially launched a formal youth negotiation group. 

The launch took place during a high-intensity, one-day Climate Youth Negotiators Training program hosted by the Local Conference of Youth on Climate Change (LCOY Liberia) at the Orange Digital Center. This initiative equips over 20 junior leaders with the technical grounding, terminology, and hands-on document navigation they require for meaningful participation in upcoming global forums, including COY21 and COP31.

LCOY organizers stressed during the opening sessions that they structured the new group not as an NGO, but as an official, collaborative talent pool that will cooperate closely with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and national focal points. 

Ezekiel Nyanfor, a facilitator, and member of the LCOY organizing team, stressed that effective climate diplomacy requires moving past combative activism. 

“If you want to join the climate change negotiation or diplomacy, it is not a place for activism. It is a place for dialogue. It is a place for diplomacy and negotiation,” Nyanfor told the gathering. He noted that the coalition aims to provide young people—particularly young women aspiring to enter international policy spaces—with the formal training and mentorship they need to avoid navigating the complex United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process alone.

The initiative received a major endorsement from UNFCCC National Focal Point and EPA veteran Benjamin Karmorh, who welcomed the coalition and praised its collaborative vision. 

Karmorh, reflecting on his decades of service since establishing processes within the EPA in 2002, likened the intensity of climate negotiations to high-stakes politics. He assured the young trainees of the government’s unwavering support.

“We should move from commitment to action,” Karmorh urged the participants. He highlighted that under President Joseph Nyumah Boakai’s administration, climate and sustainability have been firmly integrated into the national development agenda. However, he reminded the young negotiators that policy must translate to reality: “Many in this group must be at the forefront, carrying on some practical actions in our various communities… helping those communities that are being impacted as a result of climate change and building resilience.”

Participants underwent rigorous training modules, including UNFCCC website navigation, document parsing, block positioning, and a live negotiation simulation that mirrored international diplomatic floors. 

For young participants like Faith A. Kulu, the simulation was an eye-opener. “It made me feel like I was in a real COP setting,” Kulu noted, recommending that organizers extend future capacity-building programs to vet and train dedicated youth thoroughly, those committed to the rigorous demands of global diplomacy.